60 JUNGLE PEACE 



uninitiated, and impress simple natives more 

 than immoderate tips or the routine excesses of 

 tourist folk. One's scientific eccentricities may- 

 even establish a small measure of fame, or rather 

 notoriety. So it was that as I walked up the 

 landing stage at Bridgetown, a small ebon per- 

 sonality pointed finger at me and confided to his 

 neighbor, "See de mon — de tall mon da — ^he 

 de mon who chase tree lizards in de cemetry ! " 



" Yes, George," I said, " I'm de mon who 

 chased them with you two years ago, but this 

 time we shall catch them as well." 



"Anyting you say true. Boss, I'se yo boy." 



But as is always true in sport, certainty robs 

 it of the finest element of excitement, and our 

 successful stalks that afternoon with grass stem 

 nooses were less memorable than the frantic tree 

 circlings and grave hurdlings of two years be- 

 fore. 



On our return from the cemetery a breeze 

 swept up from the sea, the palm fronds slithered 

 against one another, and I suddenly caught my- 

 self shivering. The moment I became conscious 

 of this I thought of fever and wondered if my 

 life-long immunity had come to an end. Then I 

 observed old hags wrapping themselves up; my 



